Sponsors (44)
The bill aims to expand and diversify the perinatal workforce and broaden postpartum and maternity-care access (improving culturally competent care and access in shortage areas) but does so with modest new funding, added administrative requirements, and potential state/federal and Medicaid cost increases that may produce uneven implementation.
Pregnant and postpartum people (including Medicaid beneficiaries and low-income families) would gain broader access to recognized maternity care roles (midwives, doulas, lactation consultants) and a defined 12-month postpartum period, potentially expanding who can provide and receive covered postpartum services.
Communities with maternal health shortages (HPSAs), especially rural and underserved urban areas, are likely to get more perinatal clinicians because the bill expands training slots, scholarships, and recruitment targeted to shortage areas.
The bill promotes a more diverse, culturally and linguistically congruent maternity workforce and requires bias/racism training in curricula, which can improve provider–patient interactions and reduce disparities for racial and ethnic minority patients.
The bill increases federal and state costs (including possible higher Medicaid spending and a $15M/year authorization for FY2027–2031) and could raise taxpayer obligations unless new offsets are provided.
Authorized funding levels (notably the $15M/year authorization) are modest relative to the national perinatal workforce shortage and may be insufficient to meaningfully close gaps in many communities.
Guidance, illustrative lists, and reporting are non-binding or ambiguous, and accreditation/definition vagueness could produce uneven implementation across states, leaving access and benefits highly variable by location.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes HHS grant programs, guidance, and studies to grow and diversify the perinatal workforce and promote culturally and linguistically congruent maternity care, with reporting and GAO reviews.
Official title: To amend the Public Health Service Act to grow and diversify the perinatal workforce, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 25, 2026 by Gwendolynne S. Moore · Last progress March 25, 2026
Creates federal guidance, studies, grant programs, and reporting to grow and diversify the perinatal workforce and improve respectful, culturally and linguistically congruent maternity care. The bill funds competitive grants for midwifery, perinatal health worker, physician assistant, and nursing education programs and requires HHS and NIH to produce guidance, studies, and program evaluations. Requires annual reporting by grant recipients and a GAO report on barriers to maternal health education and access; authorizes dedicated grant funding of $15 million per year for two separate Title VII and Title VIII programs for FY2027–FY2031.